Thinking my meds are making me sick - Epleptin (Gabapentin)

In reply to @charmainevdm Hello. I was on Effexor for a long time and getting off of it was the best thing that ever happen to me, even though it was difficult. I’m told by my pharmacist that it is not the best drug of choice for various reasons, one being that “it’s harder to get off of Venlafaxine than it is heroin.” There are some great tapering methods on this site that were very effective for me. As far as neurontin, I cannot tolerate it, even though it can be a very good drug. Have you considered seeing a psychotherapist to discuss your phobia issues? There are many different methods of approaching this problem. Sounds like you’re in a tough situation, given your situation with your husband. Will he go to counseling with you? I’m sorry that your husband thinks you are “crazy, “ because you are not. I am truly sorry you are having a difficult time. Hang in there

I would advise against doing any tapering yourself. First step should be to find a psychiatrist you feel comfortable with and trust who is knowledgeable in medications, possibly in conjunction with a psychologist for cognitive behavioral therapy. You seem to know that these meds are not really helping and could be having bad effects. If you are truly unable to see a doctor first, start with therapy to help address that. You should not have to live your life like this and you deserve the right help.

Gabapentin gave me suicidal ideation, anxiety, inability to sleep well on and on. I couldn’t leave the house or have a life. I was on 900 mg and had to do a quick withdrawal because I was so bad. Now am on two meds I have to taper off if because of what Gabapentin to me. I’m

Since you asked for advice i am giving you the information re how i handle drug adverse effects. i call the prescribing dr and usually ask for an appt ….or if i have a particularly good relationship with the prescribing Dr, i will send a detailed note in “my chart”. Ive had numerous adverse reactions and none of them have been resolved with “needles”. i wouldnt be able to cope with such a strong phobia re needles. I would find a Psychologist who does phobia desensitization.

Hi Charmainevdm: this is in reply to your note re: Gabapentin and suicidal thoughts or however you described it. I have had chronic 8-10 level bilateral leg and low back pain since 1978. That’s 46 years. From adhesive arachnoiditis— incurable. Took huge amounts of oral opioids like OxyContin, Morphine, Dilaudid, etc. In 1998, the drug companies started pushing gabapentin. It made me crazy- was sleepy but couldn’t sleep, couldn’t concentrate, — I was a professor but became unable to lecture. The end for me came when I froze in place at dinner with my fork halfway to my mouth. My thought was not so much suicidal, but rather, if I had to be like this to live, I didn’t want to. Something had to change so, I quit the gabapentin. Cold turkey— just do it! There’s no quality of life. Again, that’s opinion, not medical advice.
Honestly, anyone with severe chronic pain who says that they have never considered suicide is not being honest with themselves or to others— just human nature. I work everyday at being positive, journaling, having a community of supporters and trying to help others. Don’t be ashamed or afraid. Embrace your humanity and accept that only YOUcan decide to be better tomorrow. Victories are small. Thank you for reaching out on this very difficult subject —Archie

There are a very small but measurable number of people on Effexor (Venlafaxine ) who experience what's called "flipping." Instead of the depressive symptoms easing, they go the other direction. I know this from personal experience. In my case I become suicidally depressed, filled with rage, harbored violent fantasies (fortunately I didn't act on these, some people do), got extremely paranoid, developed sleeping and eating disorders, had become dishonest, and more. It went on for several years, and none of this was in character for me. I tried my best to conceal it because I had come to presume it was normal and honestly couldn't see a way out of it. The only thing my wife saw were the temper tantrums, which were beginning to threaten our marriage after 30 years. I never told her about the depression until I landed in the hospital after a near suicide attempt. That was the dishonesty at work. Even after discharge, presuming that I was adapted to the drug, I was kept on it with a mood stabilizer added. I leveled off a bit for a while, and the suicidal thoughts went away for a few months, but I was still in the worst place in my life. Flat and emotionless.

After a few months I turned suicidal again and quit the drug in a rage, figuring it wasn't doing me any good and I no longer cared if I got worse. I certainly wasn't expecting to begin getting better emotionally within days, but that's exactly what happened. I quit it all on a Sunday, and even though the withdrawal symptoms are brutal, my brain fog started clearing out by Friday. I could tell. (I do NOT recommend going cold turkey like I did; the symptoms went on for weeks - do it under medical supervision.). That's when I stumbled on a study on PubMed describing exactly what I had been through. I started reading it, and realized I checked off just about all of the boxes. Effexor was singled out as particularly problematic in these cases. If there had been even a chance of me going back on it, after reading the study, I determined to stay off of it and ride out the withdrawal no matter what. I've since found another article in the British Journal of Medicine about antidepressants in general that also noted these behavioral changes in a fraction of patients. This isn't Facebook medicine, this is documented and peer-reviewed. 99%+ of the time they are effective, but there are rare exceptions. I was one of them.

My psychiatrist was initially skeptical when I told her about the study (it's an outlier), and said to her, “I think this is what happened to me.” But at this point, months later, she's concluded that yes, I was one of those rare cases. The reversion to normalcy simply happened far too quickly for any other explanation.

I have since gone on Lamictal, an anti-convulsant for epileptics that has shown some off-label success treating depression, especially bipolar 2, which I'd been diagnosed with (I do believe the diagnosis is correct based on the whole of my life). The entire experience was too extreme, and coming out of it was too recent. I didn't feel comfortable with nothing. I've been free of depression now for six months after three years of daily suicidal thoughts. I'm no longer contemplating violence. I haven't lost my temper once, something that had become almost weekly. The paranoia has gone away (I live in a very low crime place, there was no real reason for it), and my sleeping and eating have gone back to normal. And as I said, these changes started happening within days of my quitting Venlafaxine, which, like you, I had been taking for years.

I’m sticking with the Lamictal for now, as I do not know what the balance between taking that and getting off the Venlafaxine is in all of this, but given the success, I don’t want to mess with the chemistry. I’m also in counseling, trying to work out and come to terms with all that occurred. I think this is important. I’m still recovering memories of that period, my mind had blanked them out.

I would advise asking your psychiatrist about this. Whether it's part of your problem or not I cannot say. But it's worth looking into. I cannot tell you in words how differently I feel from a year ago at this time, and it began when I abruptly quit Venlafaxine.

I’m not kidding. It’s like a miracle.

I recently wrote elsewhere on this board about my experience with neurontin and how it made me literally crazy. Of course , at the time, pain mgt was an off the books use of an anti-epileptic medication, but I was desperate so I took it (probably not an uncommon decision).Quit cold turkey and never looked back.